More than ever, approaches to behavior and emotions are gaining prominence in our society. And it’s no wonder, since anxiety and depression are already considered the diseases of the century. To discuss this topic in the context of education, Bett Brasil presented conference attendees with a special panel on the importance of social-emotional development in schools, featuring Cristina Zukowsky Tavares, a professor and researcher at Viver Editora, and Gisele Aparecida Alves Mizuta, executive manager of the Ayrton Senna Institute. The panel was moderated by Maria Inês Fini, president of the National Association of Hybrid Basic Education (Anebhi).

Cristina shared with the audience her experience leading the Viver project, which addresses social-emotional concepts through printed materials and biographical films with children and adolescents. “We develop materials that are meaningful to students, schools, and families. We have an initiative at Fundação Casa de Osasco that has yielded very positive results, including with the parents of these young people. We help empower vulnerable parents to ensure their children’s more assertive development,” she explained. 

Gisele Aparecida Alves Mizuta, meanwhile, presented studies showing the impact of developing social-emotional skills in childhood and the future benefits children gain when encouraged to practice them. “We already know that fostering this development improves educational, intrapersonal, and social outcomes. These are children who grow up to perform better in school and in their careers, earn higher incomes, and experience fewer emotional and psychological disorders,” she told the audience.

Mizuta also pointed out that schools play a fundamental role in fostering these skills—an effort that must be coordinated and supported by the entire school community and families. “We must engage teachers and families in this project. Just as we seek to improve the academic curriculum, we need to develop our students’ social-emotional curriculum,” she emphasized. The panel moderator, Maria Inês Fini, added: “We work with values at school that need to be reinforced at home. If this isn’t reinforced in the family’s daily life, it will be diluted. We also have to educate families.” 

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